New Salinas city councilman dodges KSBW reporter

Jose Castaneda's first day as a Salinas city councilman got off to a rough start Tuesday.

When he arrived, Castaneda was 10 minutes late to his own swearing-in ceremony and had to rush past a packed crowd in the City Council chamber to take his seat. When he was leaving, he dodged KSBW Reporter Tom Miller to avoid an interview.

Castaneda was president of the Alisal Union Elementary School District, and Miller was attempting to ask Castaneda if he would continue serving on the board. Serving on a Salinas school board and the Salinas City Council at the same time violates California's conflict of interest laws, legal experts said. Castaneda won the race for Salinas City Council District 1 in November.

While Castaneda was hustling past Miller, he said, "Your station does not represent the truth. We'll talk later; I got to get to another event."

The other event was a party Castaneda hosted that night at a nearby casino. Castaneda questioned KSBW's truthfulness because of a recent KSBW editorial that criticized the school board's unanimous decision to name a new elementary school after Tiburcio Vasquez.

Vasquez was born in Monterey in 1835 and spent his life as an outlawed bandit who brawled, robbed, and horse-rustled his way across California. He was publicly hanged at the age of 39 after he was convicted of murder.

Vasquez was not seen as a bad guy by all. He was considered a Robin Hood-like hero by some in the Hispanic community, and he was a self-proclaimed defender of Mexican rights.

The 850-student school is slated to open in August 2013 in an area plagued by youth gang violence and crime.

"With all the heroes and positive leaders that have come out of the Salinas Valley over the last 150 years, this decision is no less than utter idiocy, and the school board’s feeble attempts to then somehow rationalize their name-choice, is unmitigated lunacy," KSBW's editorial wrote.

On Tuesday night, Alisal Union Elementary School District Superintendent John Ramirez Jr. told Miller that Castaneda was no longer the school board's president. School board member Adella Lujan said that she was stepping in as the new president and that Castaneda would continue serving as a board member.

On Wednesday afternoon, KSBW Reporter Felix Cortez asked Castaneda if he planned to resign from the school board, but Castaneda declined to answer.

Copyright 2012 byKSBW.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Forty years ago, one of the greatest boxing matches in history took place in an unlikely setting: the capital of the Philippines. Muhammad Ali's epic win over great rival Joe Frazier in 1975 became known as the "Thrilla in Manila."